UK Covid live news: Wales to begin easing restrictions from Saturday | World news

Some semblance of normal life will begin again in Wales from Saturday, with the country’s first minister, Mark Drakeford, expected to announce a change from the current “stay home” restrictions to more lenient “stay local” requirements.

This morning, he said coronavirus numbers in Wales were continuing to go in the right direction”, and that people from two households will be able to meet in gardens from Saturday, while hairdressers and barbers will be able to operate from Monday. Non-essential retail will begin to reopen from 22 March.

Drakeford told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme:

Provided things continue to go in the right direction, we hope to be able to reopen self-contained accommodation for the Easter period.

He said that in many Welsh homes, people would need to go through the house to access the back garden but “the idea is you walk straight through, out the back door into the garden”.

That will be a big step forward here in Wales, people haven’t been able to do that now for weeks and weeks. For many families that will allow grandparents to see grandchildren again and it’s a sign that cautiously, carefully and step by step, we’re now on the journey of reopening Welsh society.

Drakeford added that he has “anxieties” about the resumption of foreign travel from as early as 17 May.

I do not want to see all the hard work that people in Wales have put in over recent weeks being undermined by the reimportation of the virus.

The prime minister’s road map for England is very clear that these are indicative dates and when I’ve raised this with UK ministers they always emphasise that the decision would be made in the circumstances much closer to the time. I am saying that for me, that does look early.

I would want to be completely confident that we are not running the risk of a reimportation of the virus, particularly now that we know there are new variants of this virus in other parts of the world.

People in England will not be able to holiday in Wales when self-contained accommodation reopens at Easter, he said.

Here’s the full story:

Good morning, good afternoon and good evening to everyone reading. I’m Mattha Busby and I’ll be bringing you UK updates on the coronavirus pandemic. Please send me any tips or thoughts via my Twitter or over email on mattha.busby.freelance@guardian.co.uk